Friday, June 24, 2011

The next season of Project Project Runway is on the way! My fellow designer and I are actually sitting together, plotting and planning right now. (We were both accepted back for the upcoming season! Congratulations to us!)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Display them, of course!
We have a lemon tree in the back yard, and it seems to defy the seasons, and produce fruit at all different times of year. (maybe our seasons are defying the lemon tree?)
I went out and collected the latest batch.
I organized them in a lovely tall glass vase. It helps to have them out. I remember to cut them up and put them in water, and on fish.
I love the ones with the leaves on them.

Friday, June 3, 2011

30 days CreativityDay 4I decided to give another t-shirt a face lift. A few weeks back, we did an Iron Craft Challenge that involved t-shirts. And I had more ideas than I could do in a week. So I got one of my other potential shirts out and worked on it. I learned lessons from the first one.

I don't like the crew neck up quite so high on me. I prefer a little scoop. The first shirt I did, I used one of my favorite shirts as a pattern, and cut the neck to match. (And, yes, I even left a seam allowance.) And, whoa, we approached "flash dance" neck line proportions. On this shirt, I was prepared not to make the same mistake. So I cut the collar out, and almost nothing else. But still the neck grew to epic proportions. I made the seam tape on the bias this time. I thought that would help with the 'stretch' factor. I also sewed the tape on with the tape side towards the presser foot. But still. STRETCH!!

I love the color combination. The pink is a little bit sweet, so I like the blue and coral colors are in contrast to the soft pink. I am happy with the way it came out. It really personalizes as plain-jane shirt. And it's ready for camp now!

30 days of CreativityDay 3Jambi now likes Blues Clues. And she likes to take a quick note on paper like the host does. I looked for "Blues Clues Notebooks" on line, and I was blown away. They offer some little ones for $19.99. I can only guess that price reflects licensing fees and the 'grandma' 'tax'. So, I set out to make one of my own. The critical piece is the enormous-ring note book. I had great luck, and found one at Walgreens for next to nothing. I took the foamy sheets (I already had) and cut out a green base for the front and the back. Then I sketched a chair out on paper. I penciled in the chair on the foam, then used the biggest sharpie ever made to mark the chair permanently. A thin coat of Elmers is holding the green pieces to the covers, as well as the red chair onto the green foam. Jambi came down from her nap, and saw it on the table and squealed with delight. She ran and got a crayon, and took a note. Success.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

I joined the group 30 days of creativity. It offers a forum to do something creative every day for 30 days, and catalog it.Here we go. For today, I started a Snail Mail project for a friend who is going through a nasty patch. I cannot be there for her, in her house, so I thought I would fill her mailbox with some love. I got the first 5 done today. More will follow. It was really fun to put some sunshine in an envelope, and think good things for her. It was a wonderful way to direct my energy.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Our challenge was to celebrate the beginning of 'dine outdoor' season with something Al Fresco related. Some fabric I have in my stash popped right out at me. It is a vintage pattern, reproduction, and so 'picnic' related, it had to be used. I just made a simple set of napkins. There are three. That's how many I had on hand. I love to think about picnics with 20 of your closest friends. But for this challenge, three is our number. Welcome to Summer! Happy Crafting!